Automotive X Prize Winner Gets 102.5 MPG

It may look odd, but the ultralight Edison2 Very Light Car gets 102.5 mpg, it does so with good old-fashioned internal combustion and it’s just won the Progressive Automotive X Prize.

The Very Light Car was among three innovative, if unusual, automobiles that shared the $10 million pot the X Prize promised to whomever built a production-ready vehicle capable of getting 100 mpg or its equivalent. Progressive Automotive X-Prize officials announced the winners today in Washington, D.C., some 30 months after the competition began.

“We’ve seen a shift in the market since we first launched this competition, and a greater awareness by people everywhere to think more seriously about the actions we take, and how they affect our environment,” Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, said. “Gas mileage ranks as one of our top concerns when purchasing a new vehicle and I believe strongly that the innovations showcased throughout the life of this competition will continue to impact and improve our car buying options for the future.”

Now that the contest is won, the hard work begins. The winning teams hope to leverage their success to get their vehicles, or at least the technology underpinning them, into showrooms.

Although it seems highly unlikely that we’d see the Edison2 in showrooms, the car’s innovative use of aerodynamics, lightweight materials and a small displacement engine burning E85 is sure to catch the attention of automakers. The car weighs just 830 pounds, and it reportedly is the most aerodynamic vehicle ever tested in General Motors’ wind tunnel.

“The X Prize is only the beginning,” said Oliver Kuttner, the founder of Edison2. “We need to demonstrate that low‐mass cars can be safe and meet FMVSS safety standards. We need to show how our Light Car principles can dramatically improve efficiency for electric, hybrid, diesel and natural gas systems. And we need to create cars to fit the wide needs of consumers: SUV’s, family sedans, sports and utility models – all light, aerodynamic, safe and incredibly efficient.”

Edison2 won the mainstream class — those vehicles with four wheels and four seats — and $5 million. Kutner told the Associated Press he spent far more than that developing the car but would not offer a specific figure. The company planned to build an electric vehicle, but realized internal combustion made more sense.

“We named our company Edison2 because we accepted the conventional wisdom that an electric or hybrid drive is the key to efficiency,” Kuttner said. “ But our analysis showed that the only two absolute virtues in auto efficiency are light weight and low aerodynamic drag. So we avoided the hundreds and hundreds of pounds of batteries needed for an electric and chose a conventional internal combustion engine running on E85.”

The remaining $5 million was split among Li-Ion Motors and Peraves X-Tracer Team Switzerland, both of which built electric vehicles. Both companies say they are taking orders for their vehicles.

Li-Ion Motors, which was formerly known as Hybrid Technologies, took top honors in the alternative side-by-side division. The Wave II uses a lightweight aluminum chassis and weighs 2,176 pounds. It got the equivalent of 187 mpg and more than 100 miles of range in a real-world driving cycle, according to X Prize officials. It does zero to 60 in 14.7 seconds.

X-Tracer won the alternative tandem class with the E-Tracer, a wild vehicle that blurs the line between motorcycle and car. The X-Tracer uses outrigger wheels to keep from toppling over. This clever design has two extra outrigger wheels that deploy at low speed to stabilize the vehicle. It weighs 1,436 pounds and delivered the equivalent of 187.6 mpg and more than 100 miles of range. It does zero to 60 in 6.6 seconds.

Our own Jason Fagone attended the ceremony and will file a full report later today. Stay tuned.